Francisco Tomás Morales (Agüimes Carrizal,

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

, December 20, 1781 or 1783 – Las Palmas, Canary Islands, October 5, 1845), was a Spanish military, and the last of that country to hold the post of Captain General of Venezuela, reaching the rank of field marshal during the

Venezuelan War of Independence The Venezuelan War of Independence (, 1810–1823) was one of the Spanish American wars of independence of the early nineteenth century, when independence movements in South America fought a civil war for secession and against unity of the S ...

. As recounted in a series of letters distributed by the ''Philadelphia Gazette'', in 1822 General Morales issued a decree widely interpreted by the American merchants then in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

La Guaira La Guaira () is the capital city of the Venezuelan Vargas (state), state of the same name (formerly named Vargas) and the country's main port, founded in 1577 as an outlet for nearby Caracas. The city hosts its own professional baseball team i ...

, and

Puerto Cabello Puerto Cabello () is a city on the north coast of Venezuela. It is located in Carabobo State, about 210 km west of Caracas. As of 2011, the city had a population of around 182,400. The city is home to the largest and busiest port in the count ...

as a threat. The Americans solicited the help of Captain Robert T. Spence, whose frigate, the ''Cyane'', was in the area, to delay his departure for Africa (on piracy duty) to protect them from Morales. Spence complied for several days in October 1822, much to the relief of the Americans, at least briefly. Morales conceded defeat after the

Battle of Lake Maracaibo The Battle of Lake Maracaibo also known as the "Naval Battle of the Lake" was fought on 24 July 1823 on Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo between fleets under the commands of Republican Admiral José Prudencio Padilla and royalist Captain Ángel L ...

in July 1823. Puerto Cabello, the last Royalist stronghold in Venezuela, fell to the independentist forces in November 1823.

Battles and campaigns

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morales, Francisco Tomas 1780s births 1845 deaths * Spanish generals Captains general of Venezuela